In Cinderella: Fables Are Forever, the second miniseries featuring Fabletown’s number one spy, we learn how Cinderella travelled to the Soviet Union in the days of the Cold War, investigating rumors of a “Shadow Fabletown” of Soviet Fables. There, she met another secret agent Fable, who would go on to be her greatest nemesis (and if you haven’t read Cinderella: Fables Are Forever #1, I won’t spoil the identity of the nemesis here!).

So why a Shadow Fabletown in the Soviet Union? I guess it’s because I grew up in the last decades of the Cold War, and I miss having the Soviets as antagonists in spy stories. Not as “villains,” mind you, but “antagonists.”

Stories set in WWII and in the years leading up to the war have nature’s perfect villains already built in: the Nazis. Those guys make for GREAT villains, because they did such despicable things. If you’re dealing with a member of the Gestapo, it’s difficult to resist the temptation to make them entirely one dimensional as characters, not to simply portray them as cartoonish EVIL GUY.

But with the Soviets, things weren’t always so cut and dry. They’d been our allies during WWII, after all, and it was really only after the end of the war that they started cropping up as the enemy in spy stories. But growing up on those stories, I never got the sense that the Soviets were “evil,” but more that they were simply pursuing a different agenda. And so it was much easier for writers to cast Soviet agents in a sympathetic light, or even to use them as love interests for heroes from western powers.

In thinking about a community of Fables with different aims and agendas than those in Fabletown, it seemed only natural to use some of that same friction that I found in stories about American or British agents going up against their Soviet counterparts. And so what we have in the Shadow Fabletown isn’t a collection of “evil Fables,” so much as it is a group of Fables who see the world in a different way.

That said, Cinderella’s nemesis ISN’T a Soviet Fable, but is a western one who has gone to work for them as an assassin. And the same rules don’t apply. What does that mean? Well, you’ll have to check out Cinderella: Fables Are Forever and see for yourself!

C

Now for the cover of issue #5 by Chrissie Zullo:

Chrissie Zullo is back as the cover artist of the 2nd miniseries featuring our favorite secret-agent, CINDERELLA: FABLES ARE FOREVER.

Here’s the cover of issue #1:

All I can say is WOW!

And here's a preliminary cover for JACK OF FABLES #50:

Wonder if this'll be happily every after?

Now, we all know that Fables already have magical powers and use them, well, in their own clothes. So why has Pinocchio suddenly got it in his head that he needs to design tight fitting costumes for a carefully selected team of Fables? In fact, why was the little brat caught looking over his own comic book collection, mumbling things like, “We can call him Werewolf Man, and he can be the Golden Knight, and she can be called The Green Witch?”

Check out the cover of FABLES #102, the beginning of a 5-part story called “Super Group!”:

Look for them in February!

Cover by Chrissie Zullo

Cinderella has had one heck of a life so far. She’s been the former servant to her stepmother and 3 evil stepsisters, she was rescued by her fairy godmother, became one of Prince Charming’s many wives, got divorced, fled the homelands, opened up a shoe store in Fabletown called The Glass Slipper, and to top it off, she’s a secret agent!

Cinderella is one kiss-ass female. In CINDERELLA: FROM FABLETOWN WITH LOVE Cindy heads to Dubai where she meets up with Aladdin and embarks on an adventure that has her traveling the globe and to lands she never expected in order to stop the illegal trafficking of supernatural artifacts. But can she foil the dark plot before Fabletown is exposed to the mundy world?

Now available in a paperback collection, CINDERELLA: FROM FABLETOWN WITH LOVE written by Chris Roberson will have your heart racing and your eyes mesmerized by the gorgeous art by Shawn McManus.

Hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

Check out some pages from previous posts here.

FABLES panels at San Diego Comic Con are always full of excitement. Last year Bill wrote a special one page story illustrated by Mark Buckingham which was handed out exclusively to those in attendance. Well, what’s in store for FABLES fans this year? FABLES writer extraordinaire, Bill Willingham gives us a hint:

“Do you like expressing your love and yearning for fictional characters who died heroically, yet tragically? Do you like being able to accessorize with a unique and eclectic item of chic apparel that can go with anything? Or do you simply want to score a fab piece of rare swag that's certain to be one of the most sought-after items of funnybook history? Then you won't want to miss this year's Fables panel at the San Diego Comic Con!”

Join us Saturday, July 23 from 6:45-7:45 pm at Fables Forum 2010
Featuring the creators behind Fables, Jack of Fables and Cinderella, this panel is sure to have plenty of surprises. Hosted by Group Editor Shelly Bond with Bill Willingham (Fables), Steve Leialoha (Fables), Chris Roberson (Cinderella), Matthew Sturges (Jack of Fables), Chrissie Zullo (Cinderella) and more. Room 6DE

And to hold you over until then, check out the stunning covers by Joao Ruas of FABLES 99 and 100!